Assult Charges Against HKYCA Chairman’s Employee Dropped

A Hong Kong citizen who attended the public memorial service for Li Wangyang held in June in Mong Kok was attacked by four men with foldable stools after the service was completed. The police arrested a man who is an employee of the Chairman of Hong Kong Youth Care Association (Limited). At the court case hearing yesterday, the court dropped all charges against Kwan Chi-ngong (39 years old) as the prosecution could not provide evidence that confirms that Kwan is the attacker, and he was also rewarded around US$4,000 legal cost. According to source, the victim of the attack has always been willing to take part in identification parade, but the police did not arrange it. Kwan Chi-ngong was charged for Wounding or Inflicting Grievous Bodily Harm. The Department of Justice’s spokesperson said that based on all the evidence available against the defender, there is no reasonable chance for conviction, hence the charge has been dropped.

A video filmed at the incident that has been circulated on Facebook confirms that the defendant was present at the scene, but the video did not capture the full attack. Given that the defendant’s identity has been reported widely by the media, the defendant worries that it would be an unfair trial and has been refusing to participate in an identity parade. The police did not arrange an identity parade, but promised to arrange a face to face identity confirmation process, but this never happened. The Department of Justice decided to drop the charges against Kwan last month.

The case was heard at the The Kowloon City Magistracy the forth time yesterday. The defendant applied for the legal cost after his charges were dropped. The Magistrate granted his application. The defendant appointed a senior barrister to represent him at the first two hearings, and the estimated legal costs was around US$4,000. The defendant said that Kwan is a manager at a beer company and his boss is the Chairman of Hong Kong Youth Care Association (Limited). According to information, the HKYCA’s registered address is 1/F of Jan Jing Building in Fanling (Jan Jing is the Cantonese phonetic translation of Chinese beer company Yan Jing Beer).

On 6th June, Mr Chan (53 years-old) quarreled with HKYCA members as he was about to attend Li Wangyang’s memorial service in Mong Kok. After the event, he walked pass Tung Choi Street and was suddenly attacked by four to five men. Two of these attackers used foldable stools to hit Mr Chan’s head. The police arrested the defendant after the incident.